Daughter of Giuseppe and Francesca Cambiagio, she grew up in Pavia, Italy. At the age of 20 she had a profound mystical experience that left her devoted to prayer and desiring a religious life. However, to go along with her family’s wishes, she married Giovanni Battista Frassinella on 7 February 1816. The couple had a normal married life for two years, but Giovanni, impressed with...

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (634-687 A.D.) was born in present day Scotland to a lowly family, and worked as a shepherd near the Melrose Abbey monastery. A child playmate prophesied that he would one day become a bishop. One day, while tending to his sheep, St. Cuthbert saw in a vision the soul of St. Aidan, the Bishop of Lindisfarne, carried to heaven by angels. This mystical experience...

St. Joseph (1st c.) was a descendant of Israel's King David and a carpenter by trade. Scripture tells us that he was a just and virtuous man who was betrothed to wed the young Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon finding her pregnant with the Son of God, Joseph, after a time of uncertainty, was encouraged by an angel to continue with the marriage plans. Because of his complete faithfulness and...

In the sixteenth century when the Faith, especially in Germany, was so mightily shaken by the so-called reformers, when the Sign of the Cross was abolished as a superstitious practice, almighty God permitted this very Sign of the Cross to shine with special power and radiance, in order to strengthen the Faith in another country. This was Spain, and it was through the great miracle worker of...

Gertrude of Nivelles, OSB (c. 628 – 17 March 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium. She was born into a noble family who lived at King Dagobert's court in Belgium. Her father served as mayor of Dagobert's palace. When Gertrude was 10 years old, King Dagobert tried to arrange a marriage between her and the son of...